Today we are pressing pause on the series of Stewarding Breakthrough, in order to meditate on the wonders of the Christmas manger. May your heart be drawn into fresh worship and wonder as you read the poem below and find yourself in the cradle of the Kingdom of Heaven…
The Cradle of a Kingdom
Wrapped in shreds of clothing
Fragile in his newborn skin
Unbeknownst to the waiting world
The King of Heaven embraced the brokenness of men
With humble beginning, He was laid in a trough
Meant to sustain a hungry flock
He offered Himself, from the very first
As food for the ones who would ridicule and mock
No sense did it make
For those who understood not
That this was a promise finally born –
Unconquerable hope unquestionably bought
With every beat of His heart
The Word of life gained momentum
With every cry from His lips
The word of death lost its venom
There in the darkness of poverty deep
The crown of Heaven gleamed with its glorious light
In a cradle reserved for fragile little lambs
A Kingdom was birthed on that glorious night
For all who drew near with worship-full awe
‘Twas a miracle unlike any other
A lost world now receiving her redemption
In the gaze of a newborn baby beholding His mother…
I wonder how many cradles tonight
Are filled with the dreams of Heaven’s delight?
How many Kings and how many Queens still
Exist within the womb of God’s Holy will?
I wonder whose lives have been touched and transformed
Unquestionably altered by the Christ child that was born?
I wonder if we understand what He came to do…
I wonder if we know that His birth has brought our promised breakthrough?
As we celebrate the humble start of Heaven’s greatest gift
Do we know that His arrival signaled the long-awaited shift:
From waiting to possessing and from believing to beholding
From longing to embracing and from storing up to now unfolding?
Because He came, as a baby made for man
His cradle is an invitation to us all
That man can now be born again
That we can rise up from the ashes of our fateful fall
Yes, the cradle of a Kingdom still invites us to draw near
And to become what we should there behold
There is still a cry that comes from the Christmas manger
Inviting us to become a part of the story that is tirelessly retold
A Kingdom of priests – a holy nation will arise
To reign with the King of Heaven here on our earth
Will we wear the crown reserved for us
Since the dawning of our own new birth?
Still a world awaits the hope of promise
Blinded to the truth that it has already come
Yet those who have worshiped at the cradle of the King
Now have a song to proclaim with the beating of their heart’s drum
Emmanuel! God with us!
He is here and He is now
His reign is forever
So let us, on bended knee, freshly bow
For every heart that beholds the manger
A mirror reflection there awaits
We shall become as He is, wrapped in His nature divine
We shall inherit the enemy’s gates
The crown He came to give away
Shall be found in the humblest place
On bended knee, in new beginnings,
As we behold His face.
{Photo images courtesy of http://www.pixabay.com}
She Dances Over Graves 